A preliminary report in the investigation into the plane crash last month that killed William Anders, the 90-year-old former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic "Earthrise" photo from space, has determined that Anders was doing a flyby past a friend's home right before his aircraft plummeted into the waters off of Washington state, per the AP. The National Transportation Safety Board notes that the morning of June 7, Anders showed up at Burlington's Skagit Regional Airport, where his Beech A45 plane was stored, reports KOMO. "The pilot's son was working [there] on the day of the accident and reported that the pilot arrived there that morning and appeared to be in good spirits," notes the NTSB report.
The agency says Anders texted a friend who lived on Orcas Island, part of the San Juan Islands archipelago, to say he'd be taking a spin past her home. She noted to the NTSB that that was a rather routine occurrence for Anders—she said he typically did two swoops past, often rocking the airplane's wings, though she said he never tried to pull off any "aerobatic maneuvers." Anders hadn't yet done a flyby in 2024 when the friend received his text on June 7. As he flew by her place that day, the friend told the NTSB she could hear the "familiar" rumblings of his plane, and he finally came into view, though flying higher than he usually did.
"After it passed by, she could see the left wing drop, and she thought this was part of his usual routine," the report notes. "However, the wing continued to drop as the airplane began to rapidly descend towards the water." A man along the same shoreline who thought he was witnessing a vintage airplane recorded video of Anders' aircraft. "Over the course of the video, the plane can be seen plunging toward the water in a near vertical dive before its right wingtip strikes the water," the AP notes. The NTSB says Anders' plane was recovered about 1,700 feet west of its last radar ping, in 30 feet or so of water, per KING 5. The agency says it has salvaged much of the plane's wreckage since the crash and is now holding it in storage for a closer look. (More astronauts stories.)
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